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Wright wary of Afghanistan

Luke Wright insists England will not be underestimating Afghanistan when the two sides meet in the Twenty20 World Cup on Friday.

Last Updated: 20/09/12 10:49am

Luke Wright: Was impressed by Afghanistan's performance in their defeat by India

Luke Wright insists England will not be underestimating Afghanistan when the two sides meet in the Twenty20 World Cup on Friday.

The Afghans gave an impressive account of themselves when they made their debut in the tournament against India on Wednesday, pushing one of the favourites hard before eventually succumbing to a 23-run defeat.

Their next assignment is against defending champions England who get their campaign underway when the two sides meet in Colombo.

Wright admits he and his England team-mates watched Afghanistan in action and know they have a serious match on their hands come Friday.

"We're under no illusions that they're a very dangerous side and they pushed India close last night, so it's going to be a big test," the Sussex all-rounder told Sky Sports News HD.

"We're going to have to be at our best, but if we are at our best we can get a good result.

"You only need one or two players to come off in Twenty20, that's why it's so exciting.

Very tough

"You can see how hard their (Afghanistan's) batters are going at the ball and if one of those guys has their night it's going to be very tough, but obviously it's up to us to try and put our plans in place to try and stop that happening.

"But that's Twenty20 cricket, it's exciting, it was exciting watching it last night - I know we were all enjoying watching it, but hopefully they don't come off on Friday."

England's bowling attack were at their best in the warm-up win over Pakistan on Wednesday and Wright believes performing well with the ball will be crucial to blunting Afghanistan's threat.

"I think we're lucky in that we've got three fast bowlers in our side, tall bowlers as well, and we can look to try and push them back depending on the wicket," he continued. "If there's a bit of bounce in the wicket I think that will be important.

"Then obviously spin has its place here as well.

"We saw how well Danny Briggs and Samit bowled yesterday (Wednesday) and obviously Swann's to come back, so hopefully by the time they come on they're already a few down and we can try and get on top of them quickly."